[comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware] Will a PC talk with TTYs used by deaf people?

bstone@convex.com (Barry Stone) (12/07/90)

Will a PC with a modem communicate with the TTYs used by deaf people
over the phone?  A friend is an interpreter for deaf people and she
wants to know if she can use her PC to communicate with them over the
phone.

I couldn't think of another group to post to.  If anybody has
suggestions, let me know.

billbr@xstor.UUCP (Bill Brothers) (12/29/90)

In article <110023@convex.convex.com> bstone@convex.com (Barry Stone) writes:
>Will a PC with a modem communicate with the TTYs used by deaf people
>over the phone?  A friend is an interpreter for deaf people and she
>wants to know if she can use her PC to communicate with them over the
>phone.

Well, the real problem is that the ttys that deaf folks use are encoded
using Baudot, not ASCII. What you need to find is a terminal program
that will converse with BAUDOT devices. I haven't ever tried to find
one, so I don't really know of their existence. I have an external device
that talks baudot, but couldn't be applied for this. (its for radio)

Good luck on your search.  If you don't find anything, mail me at
uunet!xstor!billbr and I'll take a look at modifying some terminal
source I have to deal with BAUDOT.

I used to have two deaf folks work for me several years ago. I don't
suppose the tty devices have changed much since then.

Bill Brothers
Engineering Mgr.
Storage Dimensions, Inc.
uunet!xstor!billbr
(408) 879-0300

khan@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (Scott Coleman) (12/30/90)

billbr@xstor.UUCP (Bill Brothers) writes:

>In article <110023@convex.convex.com> bstone@convex.com (Barry Stone) writes:
>>Will a PC with a modem communicate with the TTYs used by deaf people
>>over the phone?  

>Well, the real problem is that the ttys that deaf folks use are encoded
>using Baudot, not ASCII. What you need to find is a terminal program
>that will converse with BAUDOT devices. I haven't ever tried to find
>one, so I don't really know of their existence. 

To Barry Stone:

Such a program exists, but it requires an IBM *PC* (it uses the cassette port 
instead of a modem, as a standard PC modem won't connect to a TDD). The file
was called something like 'TDD56.ARC'. I don't have the file, but I have seen
it around (sorry, can't remember where. I thought it was on SIMTEL20, but a
quick grep of the files listing shows nothing with that name, so I'm probably
mistaken). 

Sorry I can't give you more to go on, but at least you know it's out there
somewhere. I posted this rather than emailing in case someone reading this
can provide more details.

Good luck!


--
Scott Coleman                                         khan@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

w8sdz@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Keith Petersen) (12/30/90)

WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL [26.2.0.74]

NOTE: Type B is Binary; Type A is ASCII

Directory PD1:<MSDOS.MODEM>
 Filename   Type Length   Date    Description
==============================================
TDD56.ARC     B   38656  871205  Terminal for hearing/speech impared users

You need the cassette port for this to work.  Some newer PCs may not
have a cassette port.

This file is also available from Detroit Download Central.

Keith
--
Keith Petersen
Co-SysOp, Detroit Download Central 313-885-3956 (212/V22bis/HST/V32/V42bis)
Internet: w8sdz@vela.acs.oakland.edu,  w8sdz@eddie.mit.edu,  w8sdz@brl.mil
Uucp: uunet!umich!vela!w8sdz                         BITNET: w8sdz@OAKLAND